Today, Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, chaired the meeting of the crisis cell formed at the request of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Republic, to follow up and manage the situation regarding the deaths of Egyptian pilgrims, in the presence of Dr. Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa, Minister of Endowments, Sameh Shoukry, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Minister of Health and Population, Mahmoud Tawfiq, Minister of Interior, Nevin Al-Qabbaj, Minister of Social Solidarity, Lieutenant General Mohamed Abbas Helmy, Minister of Civil Aviation (via video conference technology), Ahmed Issa, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, and Ambassador Ismail Khairat, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs. For consular affairs and Egyptians abroad, Major General Ahmed Shaheen, representing the Armed Forces Morale Affairs Department, Major General Hossam Abu Al Magd, representing the Armed Forces Operations Authority, and officials of the relevant ministries and authorities.
At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Mostafa Madbouly expressed that the Council of Ministers offered its sincere condolences and sympathy to the families of the deceased pilgrims, stressing the commitment to provide them with the necessary support during this sad event.
The Prime Minister indicated that this meeting of the Crisis Cell, which was assigned by the President of the Republic, comes with the aim of following up on the conditions of Egyptian pilgrims, providing support and assistance to the families of the deceased, and coordinating with the authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to facilitate procedures for the deceased, and providing all necessary facilities in this regard, As well as studying the reasons for what happened and working to prevent it from recurring.
Dr. Mustafa Madbouly directed the need to take immediate decisions with the companies or entities that contributed to the travel of these pilgrims through unofficial mechanisms and methods, while setting frameworks and rules that contribute to not repeating this matter again.
Dr. Mustafa Madbouly noted that the total number of the Egyptian official delegation exceeds 50,000 pilgrims, adding that the conditions of the official delegation are being monitored throughout the day by the relevant officials, and the numbers of irregular pilgrims have also been followed up and counted because there is no registered data about them in the relevant ministries. , or the consulate, or the medical mission.
In this regard, the Prime Minister stressed that matters in the official Hajj mission are highly disciplined, and there is an integrated follow-up system at the highest level from all concerned state agencies, as 31 deaths were monitored in the official Hajj mission as a result of chronic diseases.
For his part, Sameh Shoukry, Minister of Foreign Affairs, explained that the pilgrims who lost their lives during this crisis were mostly irregular pilgrims, as the tourism companies that transported them did not provide them with any services.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs referred to the Ministry’s efforts to follow up on the conditions of Egyptian pilgrims in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as the Egyptian Consulate in Jeddah and the multiple work teams it sent to Mecca and the Holy Sites continue to coordinate with the Saudi authorities and conduct field visits to hospitals to obtain data on the Egyptian citizens present there, whether those receiving treatment or not. Of those who have passed away and matching them with the data of citizens whose relatives reported them missing, and ensuring that the necessary care is provided to those who are sick, in addition to allocating a consular mission that is present 24 hours a day at East Arafat Hospital and Al-Muaisem Medical Complex.
Sameh Shoukry noted that the emergency rooms that were designated for rapid response operate around the clock and citizens can communicate with them through the announced numbers, stressing that all efforts will continue to be made in coordination with the Saudi authorities in order to ensure access to missing Egyptian citizens as quickly as possible, and to secure the return of missing Egyptian citizens. All Egyptian pilgrims to the homeland.
During the meeting, Mahmoud Tawfiq, Minister of the Interior, noted that in this crisis, a distinction must be made between the official Hajj and the unofficial, or irregular, Hajj. Like every year, the official Hajj goes on a regular basis, and the process of crowding went well this year, as for the irregular Hajj. Here lies the problem. The Minister also explained the causes of the problem and the procedures required to deal with it.
During the meeting, the Ministry of Health and Population also presented a report on the work of the Egyptian medical mission for this year’s Hajj season, stressing that the mission provided all preventive and therapeutic services to pilgrims, through the mission’s strength of 170 individuals, including human doctors in various specialties, preventive doctors, and observers. Health professionals, pharmacists, nurses, and paramedics, explaining that the medical mission was keen to fully coordinate with the Saudi health authorities to ensure the provision of advanced services at a high level of quality.
The Ministry of Health added that the Egyptian medical mission was equipped with about 10.6 tons of medicines of various necessary types, and a number of other medical equipment, and provided primary medical services to pilgrims through 26 specialized clinics attached to hotels in Mecca and Medina, and actually received about 23.6 thousand cases that were examined. And providing medical services to them, reviewing the situation of cases that were transferred to hospitals to receive an advanced level of treatment after providing initial medical services in clinics, stressing that the condition of pilgrims detained in hospitals was followed up on an ongoing basis.
For his part, Ahmed Issa, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, presented the position of this year’s tourism Hajj, noting that any tourism company proven to be involved in making promises to Egyptians to perform Hajj outside the official framework will have its license withdrawn immediately, and its officials will be referred to the Public Prosecution on charges of fraud and deception.
Nevin Al-Qabbaj, Minister of Social Solidarity, also reviewed the position of the associations’ Hajj for this year, and the services provided by the Ministry to pilgrims of this type, stressing that there is coordination at the highest level that takes place within the official Egyptian mission, whether the mission of the Ministries of Interior, Tourism, or Solidarity, and the Ministry of Health is also in charge of Residents will assist all pilgrims with health care.
During the meeting, the report issued by the Technical Secretariat of the Crisis Management Cell was reviewed, which indicated that the reasons for the increase in deaths of unregistered Egyptian pilgrims are due to some tourism companies organizing Hajj programs with a personal visit visa, which prevents its holders from entering Mecca, and this is being circumvented. By evading desert paths on foot, while not providing adequate accommodation in other areas, causing unregistered pilgrims to be exposed to stress as a result of high temperatures.
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